Tufting mechanism for tufting a fabric base



' Dec. 28, 1937.

I mum Hill "m" 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR MENDEL -A- TARADASH DER. gig 1,

ATTORNEY Dec. 28, 1937.

- M. A. TARADASH TUFTING MECHANISM FOR TUFTING A FABRIC BASE Filed March2, 1936 FIG 4 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR MENDEL A 7' ARAaAsg DER. W

ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 28, 1937 UNITED STATES TUFTING MECHANISM FORTUFTING A I FABRIC BASE Mendel A. Taradash, Toronto, Ontario, CanadaApplication March 2, 1936,, Serial No. 66,509 In Canada February 29,1936 5 Claims.

The invention relates particularly to a mechanism adapted forincorporation into a standard sewing machine, and has for particularmention simplicity of construction, durability and cheap- 5 ness tomanufacture.

An object of the invention is to provide means associated with theneedle for engaging the thread on a reciprocating looper-bar of novelconstruction after the same has been carried through 20 a pointequidistant from the fabric, caused by the cutting member becomingdulled and having its thin edge angularly displaced; fourthly, frequentdulling of the cutting member necessitating shut downs some two or threetimes an hour; fifth1y,- 25 uneven stitching caused by the progressivedulling of the cutting member thereby causing the loops to pile up onthe looper bar and producing progressive variations in the tension onsuccessive loops and in addition slowing up operation;

and sixthly', a tendency of the looper-bar to miss some of the strandswhen loosely spun yarn is employed thus jamming the machine and necessitating a shut down.-

This invention particularly seeks to cure these 35 deficiencies andincidentally other improvements are introduced hereinafter described.

Referring tothe drawings: Figure 1 is a front end elevation of themachine. Figure 2 is aside elevation of the honing mech- 40 anism;

Figure 3 is aside elevation of the thread severing device in relation tothe 1ooper-bar.'

Figure 4 is a bottom plan view of the machine. Figure 5 is-a view of theneedle in elevation. 45 Figure 6 is a fragmentary view in perspective.The present embodiment "of the invention shown in the drawings utilizesa standard Singer sewing machine of the type used for stitching awningsand the like, it may be equipped with 50 a so-called walking foot andneedle, but it will be readily understood that the mechanism in questionmay almost any other standard or special sewing machines, with orwithout the walking foot and 55 needle.

be adapted for association with This machine comprises the usualsupporting and actuating mechanism for the reciprocating needle I andfor the presser foot 2 which feeds the fabric 3 through the machine. Theusual shuttle and connecting parts of the standard 5 sewing machine isremoved and its reciprocating shaft 4 is devoted as actuating means forthe improved looper-bar 5.

The reciprocating looper-bar 5, comprising a thread engaging tip I, ahorizontally jogged down- 10 wardly extending foot 24 and a depression 9in its underside to provide an inverted well for the thread severingmember I ll, it is centrally secured through its foot by means of screws25 to a reciprocating arm 26 disposed in a relatively horizontal plane,this arm is pivotally secured at one end 28 to the end of a relativelyvertical arm 21 whose opposing end is pivotally mounted on a stationaryshaft disposedon a bracket 30 depending from the underside of themachine platform 6, the opposite'end of the horizontal arm is similarlysecured through pivot 32 to one end of a link member 3| and the opposingend of this link member is secured by screw 33 to the forward end of thereciprocating shaft 4. The throw" of the looper-bar may be regulated byadjusting the various parts disposedatthe extreme rear of the shaftcomprising the transmission mechanism. The looper-bar is constructed ofeither round or oval tool steel and the depression 9 in its undersidemay, in'its simplest form, he V-shaped, and is adapted to receive aportion of the periphery of the cutting member 10 and form aninvertedwell for same. The needle I shown in an enlarged view in Figure 5 35which co-operates with the looper-bar has an indentation 86 in the shankdirectlyabove the eye.

As the needle travels downwardly carrying the thread through the fabric3 and before the downward movement has terminated, the looper-bar 40moves forwardly toward the needle and when the tip 1 of the bar isrelatively opposite to the. in-

dentation 36 the tapered portion of the needle above the point isbrought against a stationary bevelled surface 34 aflixed to theunderside of 5 the machine deviating the path of the needle sufficientto insure that the tip-II will enter the space created by the saidindentation and therefor will enter the loop between the-,needle shankand the thread. By this arrangement the possibility of missing somestrands of the thread is avoided. While the needle is completing thedownward stroke and commencing its upward movement the looper-bartip hasmoved forwardly in an upwardly curved path so that the thread but stillwithin the confines of the needle indentation and as the needle movesupwardly it becomes dissociated from the bevelled surface 34 and springsback to a normal position permitting it to clear the bar as it completesits rearwardly curved movement. It will be understood from the method inwhich the looper-bar is mounted and activated'that the path described byits tip constitutes a curve approximating a circle. This feature is ofgreat importance, heretofore a variety of methods were employed to movethe completed loop into the path of the cutter the most common being areciprocating finger intended to make positive contact with the loop andmove or push same rearwardly, this process, in addition to requiring acomplex and expensive piece of machinery also had the fault of iamming,that is, on occasions missing some strands of the yarn, a further methoddevised by Farrell, U. S. Patent No. 1,924,715 employs a hookedlooper-bar which physically pulls the loop into the path of the cutter,by this method each loop is cut as it is formed, thus an undesirabletension is exerted both against the free end of the previously severedloop and against the loose thread being fed from the needle with theresult that tufts of uneven length are manufactured. -A method describedby Keeney, U. S. Patent No. 1,855,916 is essentially equivalent toFarrell. By this invention the movement of the loop toward the cutter isthe result of "the tilting eifect imparted to the looper-bar as it movesforwardly thereby inducing the relatively taut loops to move freely andnaturally with the fabric and thus also a multiplicity of uncut loopsmay be built up on the bar to afford ideal working conditions. Anexamination of the method of construction shown in Figure 7 illustratesthe tilting effect above referred to.. It will be noted that the spacingof the lower extremities of the two link members, that is, theinter-shaftal distance is dissimilar from the spacing of their upperextremities, that is, the inter-pivotal distance, and in the preferredconstruction shown in Figure 7, taken at the termination of theneedleward stroke of the looperbar, the link 3| is substantially atright angles to the arm 26 while the link 21 forms a greater angle.Obviously, the same result may be achieved by positioning link member 21to form an acute angle with the arm. Thus, as the looper-bar moves in ananti-needleward direction the link 3| is rotating bringing the pivotalpoint 32 to a lower plane while at the same time link member 21 rotatesto bring its upper pivotal point 28 to an elevated plane, this has theveflect of tilting the looper-bar tip-downwardly while the rear portionof the looper-bar maintains a relatively unvaried plane.

An important feature embodied in the improved shape of the looper-bar isto present each loop to the severing member with the thread stretched atright angles to the plane of the cut, as in Figure 2, and sinceoutwardly it is entirely the cut edges of the loops which are presentedto view, the appearance of the finished rug is greatly enhanced by themethod adopted.

Previously looper-bars (where they were not adapt the cutter combinedwith the cutter into a single tool) were made of thin tool steel, thusrequiring a great deal of labor and skill to fashion the required wellfor the cutter in its thin under-edge and furthermore by reason of thisshape it did not present the thread horizontally to be cut.

The cutter l0 comprising a disc having a sharp periphery H, is removablymounted on one end of a rotatable shaft i2 and a belt engaging pulley I3is disposed on the opposing end, the shaft is held in a tubular bearingIS, the entire assembly is adjustably affixed to the underside ofplatform 6 and relative to the looper-bar by means of a plate ISAintegral with the said tubular bearing and having a slot l6Bco-operating with screws IBC disposed relative to such slot therebypermitting lateral adjustment of the cutting assembly either toward oraway from the looper bar tip and thus predetermining the aggregatenumber of uncut loops which may simultaneously co-exist on the saidlooper-bar. This in itself is a matter of utmost importance as will belater indicated. It is preferable where high rotating speeds aredesired, to provide independent driving means for the cutter from themain shaft as shown in Figure 1 wherein pulley I3 is operated by meansof belt I 4 from the. main shaft not shown; it is, however, readilypossible 'to to be activated by the reciprocating shaft 4.

A honing device shown in detail in Figures 1 and 2 is providedcomprising two rotatably mounted spherical sections IS in honingrelation and set to make suitable contact against the respective sidesof the periphery ll of the cutting member, these hones may be of highlypolished steel, glass, leather or other suitable material, having regardto the rotative speed of the cutter and the nature of the thread to becut, furthermore they may be arranged to rest in continuous honingrelation to the cutter or the honing may be intermittently applied. Inthe embodiment shown in the drawings the hones iii are rotatably mountedon a shaft 2| disposed at the extreme end of an arm l8 which isswingably mounted at an intermediate point therein on pivot 22 to astationary bracket 23 depending from the machine platform and a handleI9 for manual manipulation is disposed at the opposing end of the arm,the hones are held out of honing contact by means of a helical spring 20one end of which is secured to the underside of the machine platform andthe other end to a point in the said arm in the vicinity of the handle.The honing of the cutter as herein outlined, although not itself new, isnevertheless novel in its present application, and therefore I claim itas. part of this invention and it will be seen that this honing processcoupled with the high rotative speed at which the cutter is drivenaver-ts numerous practical disadvantages of machines previously used forthis purpose and in addition to those specifically set out in the abovetabulation as thirdly, fourthly and flfthly it also eliminates, for allpractical purposes the pull against the thread which would tend toshorten or distort the free end of a previously severed loop, and bymeans of this invention it becomes pos sible to cut the loops virtuallyas they are formed, although having regard to the nature of the threadand fabric employed it may be desirable in order to avoid the pullexerted by the upward movement of the needle against a previouslysevered loop to have say one uncut loop positioned on the looper-bar atthe instant when the newest In the standard machine, the reciprocatingshaft operates sympathetically to the needle accordingly here thelooper-bar is brought into action successively as each loop is depositedthere-.

on, and after the needle has finished its downward stroke and made acomplete return the fabric is moved rearwardly through the action of thepresser foot 2, a calibrated between stitch distance carrying aspreviously outlined the newly formed loops successively in the directionof the thread severing member. For the best results it is desirable thatas few uncut loops as possible reside simultaneously on the looper-bar,the reason for this is obvious when it is pointed out that to makedesigns having curves and angles it becomes impossible to guide thefabric along these design outlines if a multiplicity of loops remainuncut on the bar, these having the tendency to restrain any movement ofthe fabric, excepting in a straight line.

Obviously this invention is not restricted to the particular embodimentherein shown nor is it essential that all the features herein describedbe used conjointly, they may be employed in various combinationsegidsub-combinations described in the claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. In combination with a sewing machine, a tufting mechanism comprisingthe following coacting parts: a thread engaging looper-bar having asharply pointed tip portion, a relatively substantial body portion and alongitudinal slot in its underside; an arm whereon a connecting foot ofsuch bar is centrally secured; link members pivotally secured at eachend of the said arm the free end of one such link member being mountedon a rock shaft and the free end of the other being pivotally mounted ona stationary bracket depending from the machine frame, and

the said parts so arranged that upon actuation the looper-bar-tipreciprocates along a curved path substantially transverse to areciprocating needle.

2. In combination with a sewing machine a tufting mechanism comprising athread engaging looper-bar consisting of a tip portion, a body portionand terminating in a connecting foot, an arm having the said connectingfoot centrally secured thereon, link members pivotally secured to theends of the said arm, the free end of one such link member beingpivotally mounted on a stationary bracket depending from the machineframe and the free end of the'other link member being secured to a rockshaft, the spacing of the two pivotal points in the upper extremities ofsaid link members being dissimilar to the spacing of their lowerextremities.

3. In a machine as defined by claim 1 rotatable thread severing meanscomprising a shaft member, a thread severing disc, a. portion of thesharp periphery whereof intrudes into the said longitudinal slot in thelooper bar, disposed on one end of such shaft and a belt driven pulleyat the opposing end, a tubular bearing having a laterally extendingplate integral therewith proyided with a slot adapted to co-operate withrelatively placed screws for adjustably securing such bearing to theunderside of the machine platform; and timed actuating means for thesaid parts in relation to one another.

4. In combination with a sewing machine, a tufting mechanism comprisingin combination a thread engaging looper-bar, an arm whereon a connectingfoot thereof is centrally secured, link members pivotally secured ateach end of the said arm the free end of one such link member beingmounted on a rock shaft, and the free endof the other being pivotallymounted on a stationary bracket depending from the machine frame; andthe said parts so arranged that the respective angles formed by eachlink with the arm are dissimilar.

5. In a machine as defined by claim 4 means for severing loops depositedon the said bar; means for controlling the number of uncut loops on thebar at any one time consisting of, a bracket whereon the thread severingassgmbly is secured,v a slot therein for adjustable positioning thereofco-operatively with retaining screws either closer to or more remotefrom the loop origin.

MENDEL A. TARADASH.

